Walks through Spain, Italy and other places

Monasterio de Oseira – Silleda October 25th

The local bar didn't open til 9am so after my night alone in the huge monastery room I had an improvised breakfast and headed off up a steep rocky track out of the valley in which the monastery is situated .The view looking back gives a bit of an idea of how large the monastery is. My big room was on the ground floor of what looks like a small building on the left.

Even I couldn't miss this turn

but once again I missed a clearly marked turn but this farmer told me I'd missed the turn. Maybe I subconsiously missed it as the path I had to follow was a mixture of churned up mud and cow pooh.

There were lots of ancient pathways but the recent rain made the rocks slippery .

Look at the beautiful green pasture these cows have to enjoy !

A beautiful old bridge

This will be very familiar to Australians!

I saw a horreo ( see the last few posts) with its door open and it was being stacked with corn. It's interesting that some are still being used for their original purpose.

This is the best scarecrow I've seen

Lunch

I was so intent on getting lunch that I didn't see that the Camino went off the road a bit before. After a very nice lunch

I blithely headed off down the main road. A very helpful woman ran across the road to point me in the right direction . People have. Been so helpful!

I've put in two big days – all up around 80km and 1,200m of climbing and I can now enjoy two short 20km days to get to Santiago!

9 thoughts on “Monasterio de Oseira – Silleda October 25th”

Wow! Only two more days and you’ll be in Santiago. You will show us photos won’t you Paul?
The countruside you passed through today was so green and lush. I imagine the local produce would be good.
I haven’t seen any comments on your blog for ages Paul- perhaps I’ve somehow disconnected myself from them! Enjoy the shorter walks. Looking forward to hearing about your final walks.

Hi Paul
Its great to see your pics and comments. I did the French way in 3 stages over 3 years and the Portuguese last year and loved it. I am looking at the VDLP but in manageable stages. I’m 62, in reasonable condition but I don’t speak Spanish (but smile and nod a lot), and probably would like to keep the days walk down to c.25km. Do you think the VDLP would be too ambitious? Thanks in advance for your advice

Hi Phillip I turn 63 in just a few weeks and I met people as old as 84 doing this walk ! I think the main consideration is the time of year. There are a few tough stages and in the summer heat I think it would be hard to carry sufficient water. Many people have told me that April is wonderful with the wild flowers. I left in mid September when it was still quite hot but any later and I would have been arriving in Galicia in November when many albergues start to shut. You should be able to keep within 25km stages for most of the walk. Most pilgrims Ive met haven’t spoken any Spanish . Good luck and buen Camino

I have so enjoyed reading and viewing your blog Paul thanks! Tempted to do this rather than Camino Frances next year but think it would be more enjoyable if I some Spanish first. BTW you sure don’t look 63 in your photos the walking must agree.